---
layout: docs
page_title: 'Configuration Entry Kind: Service Defaults'
description: >-
  The service-defaults config entry kind controls default global values for a
  service, such as its protocol.
---

# Service Defaults

-> **v1.8.4+:** On Kubernetes, the `ServiceDefaults` custom resource is supported in Consul versions 1.8.4+.<br />
**v1.5.0+:** On other platforms, this config entry is supported in Consul versions 1.5.0+.

The `service-defaults` config entry kind (`ServiceDefaults` on Kubernetes) controls default global values for a
service, such as its protocol.

## Sample Config Entries

### Default protocol

-> **NOTE**: The default protocol can also be configured globally for all proxies
using the [proxy defaults](/docs/connect/config-entries/proxy-defaults#default-protocol)
config entry. However, if the protocol value is specified in a service defaults
config entry for a given service, that value will take precedence over the
globally configured value from proxy defaults.

Set the default protocol for a service in the default namespace to HTTP:

<CodeTabs tabs={[ "HCL", "Kubernetes YAML", "JSON" ]}>

```hcl
Kind      = "service-defaults"
Name      = "web"
Namespace = "default"
Protocol  = "http"
```

```yaml
apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: ServiceDefaults
metadata:
  name: web
spec:
  protocol: http
```

```json
{
  "Kind": "service-defaults",
  "Name": "web",
  "Namespace": "default",
  "Protocol": "http"
}
```

</CodeTabs>

### Upstream configuration

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="Consul OSS">

Set default connection limits and mesh gateway mode across all upstreams
of "counting", and also override the mesh gateway mode used when dialing
the "dashboard" service.

<CodeTabs tabs={[ "HCL", "Kubernetes YAML", "JSON" ]}>

```hcl
Kind = "service-defaults"
Name = "counting"

UpstreamConfig = {
  Defaults = {
    MeshGateway = {
      Mode = "local"
    }
    Limits = {
      MaxConnections = 512
      MaxPendingRequests = 512
      MaxConcurrentRequests = 512
    }
  }

  Overrides = [
    {
      Name = "dashboard"
      MeshGateway = {
        Mode = "remote"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

```yaml
apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: ServiceDefaults
metadata:
  name: counting
spec:
  upstreamConfig:
    defaults:
      meshGateway:
        mode: local
      limits:
        maxConnections: 512
        maxPendingRequests: 512
        maxConcurrentRequests: 512
    overrides:
      - name: dashboard
        meshGateway:
          mode: remote
```

```json
{
  "Kind": "service-defaults",
  "Name": "counting",
  "UpstreamConfig": {
    "Defaults": {
      "MeshGateway": {
        "Mode": "local"
      },
      "Limits": {
        "MaxConnections": 512,
        "MaxPendingRequests": 512,
        "MaxConcurrentRequests": 512
      }
    },
    "Overrides": [
      {
        "Name": "dashboard",
        "MeshGateway": {
          "Mode": "remote"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

</CodeTabs>

</Tab>
<Tab heading="Consul Enterprise">

Set default connection limits and mesh gateway mode across all upstreams
of "counting" and also override the mesh gateway mode used when dialing
the "dashboard" service in the "frontend" namespace.

<CodeTabs tabs={[ "HCL", "Kubernetes YAML", "JSON" ]}>

```hcl
Kind = "service-defaults"
Name = "counting"
Namespace = "product"

UpstreamConfig = {
  Defaults = {
    MeshGateway = {
      Mode = "local"
    }
    Limits = {
      MaxConnections = 512
      MaxPendingRequests = 512
      MaxConcurrentRequests = 512
    }
  }

  Overrides = [
    {
      Name = "dashboard"
      Namespace = "frontend"
      MeshGateway = {
        Mode = "remote"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

```yaml
apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: ServiceDefaults
metadata:
  name: counting
  namespace: product
spec:
  upstreamConfig:
    defaults:
      meshGateway:
        mode: local
      limits:
        maxConnections: 512
        maxPendingRequests: 512
        maxConcurrentRequests: 512
    overrides:
      - name: dashboard
        namespace: frontend
        meshGateway:
          mode: remote
```

```json
{
  "Kind": "service-defaults",
  "Name": "counting",
  "Namespace": "product",
  "UpstreamConfig": {
    "Defaults": {
      "MeshGateway": {
        "Mode": "local"
      },
      "Limits": {
        "MaxConnections": 512,
        "MaxPendingRequests": 512,
        "MaxConcurrentRequests": 512
      }
    },
    "Overrides": [
      {
        "Name": "dashboard",
        "Namespace": "frontend",
        "MeshGateway": {
          "Mode": "remote"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
```
</CodeTabs>

</Tab>
</Tabs>

## Available Fields

<ConfigEntryReference
  keys={[
    {
      name: 'apiVersion',
      description: 'Must be set to `consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1`',
      hcl: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Kind',
      description: {
        hcl: 'Must be set to `service-defaults`',
        yaml: 'Must be set to `ServiceDefaults`',
      },
    },
    {
      name: 'Name',
      description: 'Set to the name of the service being configured.',
      type: 'string: <required>',
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Namespace',
      type: `string: "default"`,
      enterprise: true,
      description: 'Specifies the namespace the config entry will apply to.',
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Meta',
      type: 'map<string|string>: nil',
      description:
        'Specifies arbitrary KV metadata pairs. Added in Consul 1.8.4.',
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'metadata',
      children: [
        {
          name: 'name',
          description: 'Set to the name of the service being configured.',
        },
        {
          name: 'namespace',
          description:
            'If running Consul Open Source, the namespace is ignored (see [Kubernetes Namespaces in Consul OSS](/docs/k8s/crds#consul-oss)). If running Consul Enterprise see [Kubernetes Namespaces in Consul Enterprise](/docs/k8s/crds#consul-enterprise) for more details.',
        },
      ],
      hcl: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Protocol',
      type: `string: "tcp"`,
      description: `Sets the protocol of the service. This is used
                      by Connect proxies for things like observability features and to unlock usage
                      of the [\`service-splitter\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-splitter) and
                      [\`service-router\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-router) config entries
                      for a service. It also unlocks the ability to define L7 intentions via
                      [\`service-intentions\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-intentions).
                      Supported values are one of \`tcp\`, \`http\`, \`http2\`, or \`grpc\`.`,
    },
    {
      name: 'Mode',
      type: `string: ""`,
      description: `One of \`direct\` or \`transparent\`.
                    \`transparent\` represents that inbound and outbound application traffic is being
                    captured and redirected through the proxy. This mode does not enable the traffic redirection
                     itself. Instead it signals Consul to configure Envoy as if traffic is already being redirected.
                    \`direct\` represents that the proxy's listeners must be dialed directly by the local
                    application and other proxies.
                    Added in v1.10.0.`,
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'UpstreamConfig',
      type: 'UpstreamConfiguration: <optional>',
      description: `Controls default configuration settings that apply across all upstreams, and per-upstream
                    configuration overrides. Note that per-upstream configuration applies across all federated datacenters
                    to the pairing of source and upstream destination services.
                    Added in v1.10.0.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'Overrides',
          type: 'array<UpstreamConfig>: []',
          description: `A list of optional overrides for per-upstream configuration.`,
          children: [
              {
                name: 'Name',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  'The upstream name to apply the configuration to. This should not be set to the wildcard specifier `*`.',
              },
              {
                name: 'Namespace',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  'The namespace of the upstream. This should not be set to the wildcard specifier `*`.',
              },
              {
                name: 'Protocol',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  `The protocol for the upstream listener.
                  
                  NOTE: The protocol of a service should ideally be configured via the
                    [\`protocol\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults#protocol)
                    field of a
                    [\`service-defaults\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults)
                    config entry for the upstream destination service. Configuring it in a
                    proxy upstream config will not fully enable some 
                    [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                    It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                  `,
              },
              {
                name: 'ConnectTimeoutMs',
                type: 'int: 5000',
                description: {
                  hcl: `The number of milliseconds to allow when making upstream connections before timing out.<br><br>
                    NOTE: The connect timeout of a service should ideally be configured via the
                      [\`connect_timeout\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver#connecttimeout)
                      field of a
                      [\`service-resolver\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver)
                      config entry for the upstream destination service.
                      Configuring it in a proxy upstream config will not fully enable some
                      [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                      It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                    `,
                  yaml: `The number of milliseconds to allow when making upstream connections before timing out.<br><br>
                    NOTE: The connect timeout of a service should ideally be configured via the
                      [\`connectTimeout\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver#connecttimeout)
                      field of a
                      [\`ServiceResolver\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver)
                      CRD for the upstream destination service.
                      Configuring it in a proxy upstream config will not fully enable some
                      [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                      It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                `,
                },
              }, 
              {
                name: 'MeshGateway',
                type: 'MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>',
                description: `Controls the default
                  [mesh gateway configuration](/docs/connect/mesh-gateway#connect-proxy-configuration)
                  for this upstream.`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'Mode',
                    type: 'string: ""',
                    description: 'One of `none`, `local`, or `remote`.',
                  },
                ],
              },
              {
                name: 'Limits',
                type: 'Limits: <optional>',
                description: `A set of limits to apply when connecting to the upstream service.
                    These limits are applied on a per-service-instance basis.
                    The following limits are respected.`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'MaxConnections',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of connections a service instance
                        will be allowed to establish against the given upstream. Use this to limit
                        HTTP/1.1 traffic, since HTTP/1.1 has a request per connection.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxPendingRequests',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of requests that will be queued
                        while waiting for a connection to be established. For this configuration to
                        be respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxConcurrentRequests',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of concurrent requests that
                        will be allowed at a single point in time. Use this to limit HTTP/2 traffic,
                        since HTTP/2 has many requests per connection. For this configuration to be
                        respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                  },
                ],
              },
              {
                name: 'PassiveHealthCheck',
                type: 'PassiveHealthCheck: <optional>',
                description: `Passive health checks are used to remove hosts from
                    the upstream cluster which are unreachable or are returning errors..`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'Interval',
                    type: 'duration: 0s',
                    description: {
                      hcl: `The time between checks. Each check will cause hosts which
                          have exceeded \`max_failures\` to be removed from the load balancer, and
                          any hosts which have passed their ejection time to be returned to the
                          load balancer.`,
                      yaml: `The time between checks. Each check will cause hosts which
                          have exceeded \`maxFailures\` to be removed from the load balancer, and
                          any hosts which have passed their ejection time to be returned to the
                          load balancer.`,
                    },
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxFailures',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The number of consecutive failures which cause a host to be
                      removed from the load balancer.`,
                  },
                ],
              },
            ],
        },
        {
          name: 'Defaults',
          type: 'UpstreamConfig: <optional>',
          description: `Default configuration that applies to all upstreams of the given service.`,
          children: [
            {
              name: 'Name',
              type: 'string: ""',
              description: 'The upstream name to apply the configuration to.',
            },
            {
              name: 'Namespace',
              type: 'string: ""',
              description: 'The namespace of the upstream.',
            },
            {
              name: 'Protocol',
              type: 'string: ""',
              description: {
                hcl: `The protocol for the upstream listener.<br><br>
                    NOTE: The protocol of a service should ideally be configured via the
                      [\`protocol\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults#protocol)
                      field of a
                      [\`service-defaults\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults)
                      config entry for the upstream destination service. Configuring it in a
                      proxy upstream config will not fully enable some
                      [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                      It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                    `,
                yaml: `The protocol for the upstream listener.<br><br>
                    NOTE: The protocol of a service should ideally be configured via the
                      [\`protocol\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults#protocol)
                      field of a
                      [\`ServiceDefaults\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults)
                      CRD for the upstream destination service. Configuring it in a
                      proxy upstream config will not fully enable some
                      [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                      It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                    `,
              },
            },
            {
              name: 'ConnectTimeoutMs',
              type: 'int: 5000',
              description: {
                hcl: `The number of milliseconds to allow when making upstream connections before timing out.<br><br>
                    NOTE: The connect timeout of a service should ideally be configured via the
                      [\`connect_timeout\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver#connecttimeout)
                      field of a
                      [\`service-resolver\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver)
                      config entry for the upstream destination service.
                      Configuring it in a proxy upstream config will not fully enable some
                      [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                      It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                    `,
                yaml: `The number of milliseconds to allow when making upstream connections before timing out.<br><br>
                    NOTE: The connect timeout of a service should ideally be configured via the
                      [\`connectTimeout\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver#connecttimeout)
                      field of a
                      [\`ServiceResolver\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver)
                      CRD for the upstream destination service.
                      Configuring it in a proxy upstream config will not fully enable some
                      [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                      It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                    `,
              },
            },
            {
              name: 'MeshGateway',
              type: 'MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>',
              description: `Controls the default
                  [mesh gateway configuration](/docs/connect/mesh-gateway#connect-proxy-configuration)
                  for this upstream.`,
              children: [
                {
                  name: 'Mode',
                  type: 'string: ""',
                  description: 'One of `none`, `local`, or `remote`.',
                },
              ],
            },
            {
              name: 'Limits',
              type: 'Limits: <optional>',
              description: `A set of limits to apply when connecting to the upstream service.
                  These limits are applied on a per-service-instance basis.
                  The following limits are respected.`,
              children: [
                {
                  name: 'MaxConnections',
                  type: 'int: 0',
                  description: `The maximum number of connections a service instance
                      will be allowed to establish against the given upstream. Use this to limit
                      HTTP/1.1 traffic, since HTTP/1.1 has a request per connection.`,
                },
                {
                  name: 'MaxPendingRequests',
                  type: 'int: 0',
                  description: `The maximum number of requests that will be queued
                      while waiting for a connection to be established. For this configuration to
                      be respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                },
                {
                  name: 'MaxConcurrentRequests',
                  type: 'int: 0',
                  description: `The maximum number of concurrent requests that
                      will be allowed at a single point in time. Use this to limit HTTP/2 traffic,
                      since HTTP/2 has many requests per connection. For this configuration to be
                      respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                },
              ],
            },
            {
              name: 'PassiveHealthCheck',
              type: 'PassiveHealthCheck: <optional>',
              description: `Passive health checks are used to remove hosts from
                    the upstream cluster which are unreachable or are returning errors..`,
              children: [
                {
                  name: 'Interval',
                  type: 'duration: 0s',
                  description: {
                    hcl: `The time between checks. Each check will cause hosts which
                        have exceeded \`max_failures\` to be removed from the load balancer, and
                        any hosts which have passed their ejection time to be returned to the
                        load balancer.`,
                    yaml: `The time between checks. Each check will cause hosts which
                        have exceeded \`maxFailures\` to be removed from the load balancer, and
                        any hosts which have passed their ejection time to be returned to the
                        load balancer.`,
                  },
                },
                {
                  name: 'MaxFailures',
                  type: 'int: 0',
                  description: `The number of consecutive failures which cause a host to be
                    removed from the load balancer.`,
                },
              ],
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'TransparentProxy',
      type: 'TransparentProxyConfig: <optional>',
      description: `Controls configuration specific to proxies in transparent mode. Added in v1.10.0.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'OutboundListenerPort',
          type: 'int: "15001"',
          description: `The port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic. This must be the port where
                        outbound application traffic is redirected to.`,
          yaml: false,
        },
        {
          name: 'DialedDirectly',
          type: 'bool: false',
          description: {
            hcl: `Determines whether this proxy instance's IP address can be dialed directly by transparent proxies.
              Typically transparent proxies dial upstreams using the "virtual" tagged address, which load balances
              across instances. Dialing individual instances can be helpful in cases like stateful services such
              as a database cluster with a leader.`,
            yaml: `Determines whether the Pod IPs can be dialed directly (versus the Cluster IP).
              Dialing Pod IPs can be helpful in cases like stateful services such
              as a database cluster with a leader or with an ingress controller that dials Pod IPs instead of Cluster IPs.`,
          },
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'MeshGateway',
      type: 'MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>',
      description: `Controls the default
      [mesh gateway configuration](/docs/connect/mesh-gateway#connect-proxy-configuration)
      for this service. Added in v1.6.0.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'Mode',
          type: 'string: ""',
          description: 'One of `none`, `local`, or `remote`.',
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'ExternalSNI',
      type: 'string: ""',
      description: `This is an optional setting that allows for
                      the TLS [SNI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication) value to
                      be changed to a non-connect value when federating with an external system.
                      Added in v1.6.0.`,
    },
    {
      name: 'Expose',
      type: 'ExposeConfig: <optional>',
      description: `Controls the default
                      [expose path configuration](/docs/connect/registration/service-registration#expose-paths-configuration-reference)
                      for Envoy. Added in v1.6.2.<br><br>
                      Exposing paths through Envoy enables a service to protect itself by only listening on localhost, while still allowing
                      non-Connect-enabled applications to contact an HTTP endpoint.
                      Some examples include: exposing a \`/metrics\` path for Prometheus or \`/healthz\` for kubelet liveness checks.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'Checks',
          type: 'bool: false',
          description: `If enabled, all HTTP and gRPC checks registered with the agent are exposed through Envoy.
        Envoy will expose listeners for these checks and will only accept connections originating from localhost or Consul's
        [advertise address](/docs/agent/options#advertise). The port for these listeners are dynamically allocated from
        [expose_min_port](/docs/agent/options#expose_min_port) to [expose_max_port](/docs/agent/options#expose_max_port).
        This flag is useful when a Consul client cannot reach registered services over localhost. One example is when running
        Consul on Kubernetes, and Consul agents run in their own pods.`,
        },
        {
          name: 'Paths',
          type: 'array<Path>: []',
          description: 'A list of paths to expose through Envoy.',
          children: [
            {
              name: 'Path',
              type: 'string: ""',
              description:
                'The HTTP path to expose. The path must be prefixed by a slash. ie: `/metrics`.',
            },
            {
              name: 'LocalPathPort',
              type: 'int: 0',
              description:
                'The port where the local service is listening for connections to the path.',
            },
            {
              name: 'ListenerPort',
              type: 'int: 0',
              description: `The port where the proxy will listen for connections. This port must be available
           for the listener to be set up. If the port is not free then Envoy will not expose a listener for the path,
           but the proxy registration will not fail.`,
            },
            {
              name: 'Protocol',
              type: 'string: "http"',
              description:
                'Sets the protocol of the listener. One of `http` or `http2`. For gRPC use `http2`.',
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
  ]}
/>

## ACLs

Configuration entries may be protected by [ACLs](/docs/security/acl).

Reading a `service-defaults` config entry requires `service:read` on the resource.

Creating, updating, or deleting a `service-defaults` config entry requires
`service:write` on the resource.
